Nuclear power
is the largest
source of reliable,
emissions-free
electricity.
Yet half of Americans
oppose nuclear energy,
and even more
oppose it globally.
The fear
is grossly
exaggerated.
For a nuclear weapon,
uranium is usually e
enriched 90% -- but
only 3-5% to generate
electricity.
A commercial
nuclear
power plant
can't explode
like a nuclear
weapon.
80,000 tons
of used
nuclear fuel
has been
shipped
worldwide
since 1970
for storage and
reprocessing,
No accidents
releasing any
radioactive
material.
Spent fuel
is submerged
in cooling tanks
in secure facilities
and then stored in
thick, airtight, steel
and concrete casks
safe enough to touch.
All the nuclear waste
since 1960 could fit
10 yards deep
onto a football field.
Comparing
deaths per unit of
energy produced,
nuclear power is
330 times safer
than coal,
250 times safer
than oil and
38 times safer
than natural gas.
Chernobyl in 1986:
The worst nuclear
power disaster
in history.
No nuclear reactor
outside of the Soviet
Union was designed
as poorly.
The deaths
Chernobyl
will cause
from radiation
-induced cancer
over several
decades
are expected to be
fewer deaths than
those caused by
worldwide
coal power
plant pollution
EACH MONTH.
Nuclear power
has become
the safest,
cleanest
energy
source in
the world.
By avoiding
air pollution,
NASA estimates
nuclear energy
has saved
two million lives
since 1970.